CPU Overheating.. or not?

[Dhakar]

Howdy everyone

I recently bought a 6600 Quad Core CPU to replace my old P4. After installing the new CPU it kept overheating. I watched it overheat in the bios, starting at a reasonable 35C but slowly working upto 63C or so and then shutting down. So I put in my old P4 to test it and lo and behold now my P4 is overheating and I can't figure out why! I've cleaned & changed the thermal paste on the heatsink/CPU, bought a new fan, hell I even held up a regular fan to the side of the open PC case whilst it was booting up but to no avail.

A friend of mine reckons my motherboard has basically gone crazy and is reporting the wrong temperature and another friend reckons that I could've blown the voltage regulator on the motherboard. Personally I think the voltage regulator idea sounds more plausable but i've honestly no idea. I'll work on getting my quad core to work after my p4 I think :< Any ideas anyone?

Cheers!

 

[williamleja]

What motherboard do you have?

Assuming your motherboard is able to handle quad core processors then I would double check to make sure your HSF is mounted properly on the processor. Also, how did you clean the old thermal compound off? Hopefully you used some alcohol because thermal compound is notorious for being hard to get off.

William

 

[Dhakar]

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4COREDUAL-VSTA

That's my motherboard. I'm pretty sure the HSF is placed properly ontop of the CPU and I just used water and a cloth, obviously only a tiny tiny amount of water, it really wasn't hard to get off. It was all off afterwards also.

 

[night_wolf_in]

n did u put new thermal paste when u put it in?

 

[coa]

Maybe your sensors are wrong?

 

[Mondoman]

My guess is the CPU cooler is either missing any thermal compound, or wasn't quite fully reattached. Remember that it's normally just about impossible to fully install the Intel 4-pin cooler if the MB is already mounted in the case, because there isn't enough clearance between the MB and case to get the pins all the way in. This post may prove helpful: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/194385-31-part-assembly#t1184072

 

[seboj]

Sounds like heat insulation to me, rather than the heat transference you're wanting. Use a non-lint cloth and isopropyl alcohol instead of water to remove the old TIM, and use this method to apply the new TIM:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinstruct/as5/ins_as5_intel_quad_wcap.pdf

 

[Dhakar]

Okay, I've been messing around a bit and got my old stuff working. I think it was because the HSF wasn't properly placed I didn't realise it had to be dead firm. I even have my new hardware in now Now the only problem I have is that my PC isn't overheating, but my four cores are all between 60c and 80c :x

 

[williamleja]

The fan on your heatsink is spinning right? Just checking. You never know.

Another problem could be that the fan is not spinning fast enough. Check the BIOS and make sure that the CPU's fanspeed is 100%. That aught to dissipate some heat.

One final question: What CPU cooler do you have? Stock Intel coolers are not that great, however I doubt they are really that bad. You could always try to lap your heatsink with some sandpaper. Just do yourself a favor and don't lap the processor. It is a quick way to void your warranty.

Good luck and keep us updated.

William

 

[Dhakar]

Thanks for all the help The fan is spinning aye. There's also no option in my BIOS to change the fanspeed. I saw another thread earlier about lowering the voltage to 1.15 with a Quad 6600 to try and lower the heat but my BIOS won't let me change the voltage, only view it! I've looked through every option and cannot see anything that allows me to change it. I've probably overlooked it though I did give it a good 10 minute thorough check!

I wouldn't know how to start with lapping my heatsink with sandpaper Also I presume it's not safe to keep my pc running with all four cores at about 70C or won't it damage it straight away?

 

[Mondoman]

You are using the CPU cooler that came with the q6600, not the less-capable one that came with the P4, right?

 

[mickrick]

Did you spray it with WD40?

 

[Mondoman]

^^ Which is something you definitely DO NOT want to do...